Macaroni

The rules governing art in the classroom used to be simple but ironclad: color trees green, apples red and always, always stay inside the lines. Happily, times have changed. At "My World of Art and Welcome to It," 200 Brea school kids show that the boundaries of children's art have stretched quite a bit. The exhibit, which features paintings, sculpture and multimedia works by students in grades kindergarten through 12 continues at the Brea Civic & Cultural Center Gallery through Friday.

Fusion Cuisine may be the culinary buzzword of the '90s. We've tried Thai, finished French and been inundated by Italian. Sometimes it seems the only culinary frontiers left are a mix of multiethnic themes. But Fusion Cuisine has really been going on forever. Every nationality borrows foreign food ideas, changing them in the process.

Remember Tang? Astronauts drank it, so it got a lot of ink in the 1960s and 1970s. Nowadays, it gets about as much notice as the space program, holding just a small slice of the U.S. powdered-drinks market. But in developing markets from Brazil to China, Kraft Foods Inc. has turned its Tang brand into an international juggernaut with $750 million in annual sales. Kraft's boxed macaroni and cheese, on the other hand, dominates its market in the U.S. But in developing markets, it's mostly an afterthought for Kraft.

The music is Caribbean rap, the dance a fast shuffle, the words a hymn to the man the Haitian kids in this shabby southern seaside town call Sgt. Macaroni, the man who gets the bad guys. "Macaroni doesn't mess around," the kids sing, "Macaroni's a good guy. Macaroni got them good." Actually, Macaroni is U.S. Army Special Forces Staff Sgt.

Dear SOS: Would you get me the recipe for mac 'n' cheese from Famous Dave's ? Thank you. Inez Moreno Bakersfield Dear Inez: Famous Dave's was happy to share its creative and creamy version of this classic comfort food. Enjoy. Famous Dave's mac 'n' cheese Total time: 1 hour, 20 minutes Servings: 8 to 12 Note: Adapted from Famous Dave's. 2 tablespoons butter, plus ¼ cup (½ stick), divided 3 tablespoons flour 2 cups milk 3/4 cup half-and-half 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard 2 teaspoons barbecue sauce 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper 4 ounces aged white cheddar cheese, shredded 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese 1 1/2 cups sweet corn niblets 2 jalapeños, finely chopped 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley 1 pound jumbo elbow macaroni, cooked and drained 8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, cubed 8 ounces Colby cheese, cubed 1/2 cup cracker crumbs 1/2 cup panko (Japanese-style)

When I think of comfort, my mind wanders back to my childhood--to those cold wintery days in Wisconsin when, after the long walk home from school, we'd make angels in fresh-fallen snow and stock our snow forts with snowballs. Or we'd make snowmen and then sled until dusk, until we were chilled to the bone. Coming in from the cold air into our nice warm home, we'd take off our wet, half-frozen mittens, our jackets and boots and huddle around the fire to warm ourselves. Then my Mom would bring us a cup of hot chocolate to sip while she prepared our favorite dinner of creamy macaroni and cheese.

Norman Brinker, an innovative restaurateur who helped bridge the gap between fast food and fine dining with his casual, middle-of-the-road chains Chili's, Bennigan's and Steak & Ale, has died. He was 78. Brinker, a resident of Dallas, died Tuesday at a hospital in Colorado Springs, Colo., while on vacation. The cause was complications from pneumonia, according to Brinker International Inc. spokeswoman Stacey Sullivan.

"Where you headed?" asked the cheerful driver of the rental-car shuttle at the Detroit airport. "Detroit!" I answered, equally cheerfully. "Southfield, Birmingham or Rochester?" he asked, referring to well-to-do northern suburbs. "No, Detroit," I responded. Silence, then a shrug as if to say, "Suit yourself. " Many Americans -- even many Michiganders -- see Detroit as a place to be feared: impoverished, decimated and down-and-out depressing. Sure enough, my drive into the city center took me past what a friend calls "desolation porn": eerie shells of onetime factories, warehouses, shops and office buildings, and block after block of overgrown lots that used to be comfortable working-class neighborhoods.

In the film "Baby Boom," Diane Keaton makes a killing marketing Country Baby applesauce. The TV spin-off could take place at Mary's Lamb, a country-baby kind of take-out shop/restaurant in beautiful downtown Sherman Oaks. Ventura Boulevard is hardly the country, but there's blue gingham and raw wood and, best, masses of hands-on real food.

A high-fat "ketogenic" diet may reverse the kidney damage caused by diabetes, a study published online Wednesday by the journal PLoS One reports. Past research has shown that lowering blood sugar through diet can prevent kidney failure but not reverse it in patients with diabetes.  Lead author Charles Mobbs, a neuroscientist at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City, said that this study -- in which mice were fed a high-fat diet of...